Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off for elbowing an opponent during his team’s 2-1 Saudi Super Cup semi-final loss to Al-Hilal.
In the 86th minute, Ronaldo, 39, seemed to swing his elbow twice into Ali Al Bulayhi’s chest, causing him to fall to the ground. As a result, he was shown a straight red card.
Before leaving the field, the Portugal international then seemed to raise his first towards the referee. Ronaldo has not received a red card since moving to Al-Nassr in December 2022.
At that point, Salem Al-Dawsari and Malcom had put Al-Nassr behind 2-0; Sadio Mane, a former forward for Liverpool, pulled one back in stoppage time.
The Portuguese international appeared to be setting himself up to punch the ball onto the ground directly in front of the referee, which could have made things worse, but he stopped himself.
The 39-year-old was in no mood to stop protesting. He mockingly applauded the referee as he left the field and motioned for the spectators to follow suit.
Early in the match, Ronaldo had already received a yellow card. He was incensed by the decision to chalk off Otavio’s goal and engaged in a heated altercation with the referees.
Head coach Luis Castro was infuriated by the decision to send Ronaldo to the locker room as well.
Al-Nassr did succeed in adding a point to their record following Ronaldo’s departure. Even if former Liverpool player Sadio Mane scored, a valiant comeback was not possible. The focus will now shift to Al Feiha’s league matchup next Friday.
With seven games left in the Saudi Pro League title battle, Al-Nassr is 12 points behind leaders Al-Hilal. Al-Khaleej will be waiting for them in the semi-finals of the King Cup of Champions, which is their last chance to take home extra hardware this season.
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Al-Ittihad and Al-Hilal, the two strongest teams in Saudi football, will face off in the other last-four matchup.
Three-time champions On Thursday, Al-Hilal vs. Al-Ittihad will play for the championship.
Al-Ittihad defeated Al-Wehda 2-1 in their semifinal match earlier on Monday, with goals from Morocco’s Abderrazak Hamdallah and former Real Madrid captain Karim Benzema.
